1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fueling system to be installed in a gas station, particularly to a fueling system, of which essential fueling operations are carried out by fueling operators, and supplemental operations such as fueling data input and clearing off are carried out by a customer sitting in a car.
2. Discussion of Related Art
There exist a variety of fueling systems, such as a system designed to be used as self-service machinery, and a system aimed to be operated by fueling operators. The former system is advantageous in view of reducing cost with the elimination of fueling operators from a gas station. In a latter system, there is such an advantage that a customer does not have to perform a fueling operation, who may be unaccustomed to fueling operation, the fueling operation sometimes being accompanied with danger in handling fueling equipment such as a fueling nozzle. Moreover, the customers avoid dirtying hands or clothes by mistake, and are not directly annoyed with the odor of fuel vapor, which is not good for health.
A fueling system which is designed to be operated mainly by fueling operator is disclosed, for instance, in Japanese Patent Application 10(1998)-219757, that has a full-tank fueling function and a fuel-sort discrimination function. By the use of this system, it is possible to decrease the number of fueling operators by the reduction of labor, so that cost reduction is effectively performed. There is, however, such a case that the arrival of a customer escapes fueling operator""s attention when the operator is concentrated on some other job such as other customer""s fueling. In this case, the newly arrived customer may feel inconvenience. Moreover, it is sometimes inconvenient for a customer to get off his car for settlement.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a fueling system wherein the substantial fueling operation is carried out by fueling operators and other supplementary operations such as the input of fueling data and settlement is carried out by a customer sitting in a car, thereby effectively eliminating the number of fueling operators without giving the customer a feeling of inconvenience.
The above object of the present invention is attained by a fueling system to be provided in a gas station comprising at least one fueling machine, and a data input/output unit, the data input/output unit being movable in a required direction, and a fueling data being input from the data input/output unit and being output to the fueling machines.
The above object can also be attained by a fueling system to be provided in a gas station comprising a plurality of fueling machines, at least one data input/output unit which is movable by a conveyance unit, a fueling data being input from the data input/output unit and being output to the fueling machines, and entry sensors, each for sensing a car at a fueling area wherein fueling operation is performed, the data input/output unit being moved toward the car by means of the conveyance unit with the detection of a signal from each of the entry sensors.